How to break into the biz. Phew. There's film school. There's
interning. There's marrying a wonderfully rich and supportive fella.
And then there's going out, buying a digital camcorder and JUST DOING
IT.

Okay don't expect to make a living at it just yet...well I have a
Master's in English and teach full time at a junior high...my mind is
ripe with things I could document, am dying to, but who where do I
connect with to get my things shown or funded? All that I am very no-
knowledge on....

Jennifer, read up on grants for docmakers. Going the grant route is
probably best for first-timers if you have a social issue your
exploring. Otherwise, you probably have to get it off the ground out
of your own pocket.

Hello everybody,
My dear friend Sarah George, who some of you know, finally kicked me in
the butt hard enough to get me involved in The D-Word, and I'm glad she
did. This looks like quite an interesting place to convene, share
ideas, collaborate, commiserate.
I'm a TV doc producer living in New York. Recently, my company, which
was contracted by MSNBC to produce bios and specials, let go 95% of its
employees, including myself. So I join the ranks of the unemployed.
I look forward to seeing what y'all are up to.
Thanks,
Joel Bach

Glad you were able to navigate your way in here, Michelle. We're
simplifying the registration process and should have it up and running
by Thursday when the Virtual Doc Conference press release goes out.
Folks will just need to go to: www.d-word.com/register.

This is one of the best things the International Documentary
Association got me into. I signed up for the International Marketing
of Docs cyber-conference at the end of the month, but am going to be
staying on, I think. Some will recognize my first name as being from
India; the second was acquired through marriage--which brought me to
Los Angeles. For those who want to know more, let me include my
website URL. http://home.earthlink.net/~jayasrihart.

Hi folks, I just joined. I'm a docmaker from San Francisco who's
been producing and directing social and environmental issue docs since
1971. I also teach documentary filmmaking at City College of San
Francisco. My most recent doc, SURFING FOR LIFE, profiles older
surfers in their 70s, 80s and 90s. You can check our web site atwww.surfingforlife.com. I look forward to being in touch and learning
from y'all (Texas friends). Kindly, David L.

Welcome, David. Feel free to fill out a Personal Profile so we can
find out more about you and your work (by clicking on your username).
To do so, click on the Settings button at the top right of the page.

I need support ,sales ideas and possible collaboration to
complete a documentary which is on its way already.
Let me introduce you to my project.:

MOONWATCHER - The Documentary
MOONWATCHER is a 90-minute documentary made for
theatrical release and adapted for the television format.
Space. Time. Nature. Technology. Art. Destiny
After four painstaking years of production, Stanley Kubricks
"2001, A Space Odyssey" finally hit the screen in April 1968. This
extraordinary spell-binding tale of human evolution and destiny
evokes the great mystery of mankinds existential search, and
his ultimate quest for self-realization.
2001s Dawn-of-Man sequence, featured the alpha-ape
character of "Moonwatcher", the creation of performer/artist, Dan
Richter, "Moonwatcher" and his tribe are doomed to extinction.
Then, he picks up a bone, uses it as a tool and ultimately crafts it
into a weapon of destruction.
The pivotal sequence remains one of the most lurid and
provoking visual metaphors in cinematic history.
Artist Dan Richter collaborated with some of the most influential
and creative minds of the day. Andy Warhol, Arthur C. Clarke,
John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Allen Ginsberg and Kubrick himself
were among his peer group. These writers, artists and
performers used their art as a vehicle to strike at the very core of
the status quo.
In MOONWATCHER Dan Richter plays host to a vibrant
examination of the post-world war years of the 1960s, the age of
radical query, and the role of artists in stretching accepted
paradigms that challenged and transformed ideas, we travel
through the decades of discovery, pop culture, space travel,
globalization of corporate monoliths, capitalism, consumerism
and the vanished enemies behind the iron curtain.
Re-think the human condition as you are invited into the
nature-drenched environment of science fiction author Arthur C.
Clarke and the urban world of avant garde artist and musician,
Yoko Ono.
MOONWATCHER - The Documentary, explores the artistic legacy
of Kubricks profound commentary, and of those artists whose
creative output defined their generation and future perspectives.
As the catalysts for true examination their expressions reveal
profound insights as to our ultimate purpose on earth.
Hans Pfleiderer
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER

Hi. I have finally visited and remain excited about participating.
I'm currently a Boston-based filmmaker, and the producer of the
recently-completed ADRIFT, a lyrical film about an Irish-American
cameraman and his late father's expectations for success. I'm
finally back to work on SWEET DREAMS: THE DONUT MOVIE. Later, Tracy

Hello again all - I say "again" as I was a member briefly when the
forums were located elsewhere. Since then I have completed my first
documentary - (last spring) the history of my daughter's school as
seen through the eyes of three former principals and several former
students from the 1920's until the 70's. I'm gearing up for HOT DOCS
here in Toronto, so once again as it becomes spring, my mind begins
to wander to documentary thoughts. I'm putting together a couple of
projects which I am hoping will get done this summer. In the meantime
I've also become the editor of a print magazine for the video
production industry here in Canada on a part time basis. As well as I
am still working at a post facility. Not going to leave the post
facility as they have been very supportive of my foray into doc
making and also of HOT DOCS (we are a sponsor for the second year in
a row). I'm really looking forward to HOT DOCS this year and I hope
some of you make it up. If anyone is coming up to TO let's hook up!

I'm an experienced documentary and dramatic film maker. i am looking
for advice on a series of documentaries for TV networks in the US. I
have a foreign distributor but this programme is about Transsexuals
and their personal lives. Who in the US would be the best channel to
approach.

Welcome to The D-Word Forums, Robert. Sorry I can't answer your
question, I'm one of the Euros in here. In our private forum for
documentary professionals, {LINK NOT IMPORTED}, we have dedicated
topics about distribution. Check out www.d-word.com/community for
access. Membership is free.